SPORTS BRIEFS: Major honors for SCAD women's lacrosse team

Thursday

The SCAD women’s lacrosse team has earned four of the five major awards offered by the Independent College Conference and has named eight players to the all-conference first team.

Jordan Mitchell was named Conference Player of the Year. The sophomore currently leads the team in points with 95 (34 goals, 61 assists). Her 61 assists is a team-high. Mitchell also totals 59 shots, 48 on goal, 60 draw controls, 37 ground balls and 14 caused turnovers.

Mitchell ranks second in the NAIA in assists (61) and assists per game (5.080). She also ranks third in points per game with 7.920.

Sydney Knego has been named the Offensive Player of the Year. The junior currently leads the team in goals (60), shots (99), shots on goal (78) and draw controls (104). Knego also totals 36 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers.

Knego ranks fourth in the NAIA in goals per game (5.00), fifth in points per game (6.580) and ninth in both shots per game (8.250) and shots on goal per game (6.500).

Emma Devereaux was named the Defensive Player of the Year. The senior leads the team in caused turnovers with 27. She totals two assists, 29 ground balls and two draw controls. Devereaux has helped lead a Bees’ defense that has caused 170 turnovers as well as held their opponents to 93 goals and 26 assists.

SCAD's Adrienne Berkland was named the Coach of the Year after leading her team to an 11-1 regular season. The Bees remained the No. 1 ranked team in the NAIA throughout the entire season and will be the first seed in the NAIA Invitational National Championships. They will face the No. 8 Lawrence Tech in the first round on May 9 at 4 p.m. in Grand Rapids, Mich.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Wells Fargo Championship opened on a somber note and with green ribbons Thursday.

Dozens of golfers at the PGA Tour event paid tribute to the shooting victims at UNC Charlotte and their families by wearing a small ribbon with the school's colors on their hats for the opening round.

Two students were killed and four others wounded Tuesday when a former Charlotte student opened fire in a campus classroom.

Scotland's Martin Laird was among those wearing a ribbon. They were handed out on the first tee box, where golfers also signed a memorial board.

Laird said the shooting hit home with him because he once lived in the Charlotte area for six years.

"It was horrible news to hear," Laird said. "I kind of count myself as kind of a local. I think it's crazy and our thoughts are with everyone affected."

Added defending champion Jason Day: "We live in a very, very different world right now when people are taking other people's lives."

Day, who is from Australia, wants the focus on the victims, not the shooter.

"It's frustrating to hear about the young kids are that are just starting their lives, or are going to start their lives, and the families that have to do deal with this heartbreak," he said.

Patrick Reed learned of the news on television. He said wearing a ribbon on his hat was a way of standing by the Charlotte community, which has hosted this tournament at Quail Hollow Club since 2003.

The university is about 20 miles from the course.

"Any time we have any kind of ribbons and we can support anything that's bigger than golf, we're going to support that because we have a platform here where we're not just out here playing golf," Reed said. "We're out here to try to make the world a better place."

Danny Ainge has

mild heart attack

BOSTON — Boston Celtics President Danny Ainge had a mild heart attack and is expected to fully recover.

The 60-year-old executive received immediate medical attention Tuesday night in Milwaukee, the team said in a statement Thursday. The Celtics were facing the Bucks in the second round of the playoffs. Ainge, who also had a mild heart attack in 2009, was scheduled to return to Boston.

Celtics coach Brad Stevens said after the team practiced Thursday that he's been in frequent communication with Ainge's family. He said they all seem to be doing well.

"That's all positive, but certainly it's scary," Stevens said. "To me, he's a friend and the family's been so good to us. So, you don't even think about anything else. You just want him to be comfortable and feeling great, getting better, that it's a good prognosis."

Game 3 of the Celtics' series with the Bucks is Friday night in Boston.

"This is much bigger than basketball," Stevens said. "Game 3 is Game 3. You always want to play your best at this time of the year. Obviously, he really cares about the result. We all really care about the result. But this is a game. So, that's what it is."

Stevens' comments were echoed by Celtics guard Marcus Smart, who said the team was informed by the coaching staff before practice Thursday. Now in his fifth season in Boston, Smart is the longest-tenured player on the roster.

Smart shares a close relationship with Ainge, who was there to comfort him while his mother, Camellia Smart, endured and eventually died from cancer last year.

"Danny is just one of those guys. He takes time out of his life and his day, whatever he's doing and his schedule, to make sure you're all right," Smart said. "He constantly checks in on my family and everything like that. Just personally for me he's been like another mentor for me.

"From when I first got here Danny was that person I seen every day. ... He means a lot to my life as well. I just hope he makes a speedy recovery."

Ainge was a two-sport star at BYU who in 1981 won the Wooden Award as the nation's top college basketball player. He played parts of three seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays, batting .269, before settling into a 14-year career in the NBA.

Ainge was an All-Star in 1988 and won two championships with the Celtics alongside Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale.

Ainge coached the Phoenix Suns for three-plus seasons and took over the Celtics' basketball operations in 2003. He was named NBA executive of the year in 2008 after engineering the deals for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen that helped the Celtics raise their record 17th championship banner.

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